ISRO's app to help fishermen locate international borders

The NAVIC, with seven satellites in orbit, is the Indian equivalent of GPS.It offers opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs to develop India-specific applications.

TNN

March 11, 2017, 09:03 IST

Vellore: The Indian regional satellite navigation system, NAVIC, of ISRO and the NAVIC based mobile application would ensure the safety of Indain fishermen and prevent them from straying into international waters, said Rakesh Sasibhushan, chairman and managing director of Antrix Corporation Ltd, a commercial arm of Isro.

The NAVIC, with seven satellites in orbit, is the Indian equivalent of GPS. It offers opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs to develop India-specific applications.

Towards this, ISRO is coming out with a specific proposal aimed at Indian industry. Isro's PFZ programme already provides information on potential fishing zones, said Sasibhushan at the inauguration of the three day international conference 'Materials, Manufacturing and Modelling 2017' at VIT University on Thursday.

"Now, NAVIC based mobile devices which give information to fishermen, are being planned to be developed in regional languages to help fishermen navigate to the PFZ.

It also gives information on international boundaries to help them prevent getting caught for crossing international boundaries, which is a big issue today," he said citing the recent incident in which a 22 year-old fisherman was shot dead. On GAGAN (GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation), he said it was another satellite-based navigation application.

Jio’s Rs 2,399 annual plan offers 2GB per day data that costs effectively Rs 200 per month. It also offers unlimited voice and SMS. Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s Rs 2398 and Rs 2399 annual plans, on the other hand, offer 1.5GB per day data along with unlimited voice and SMS